The Programmer Cultivator

Chapter 432: Chapter 72: Li Gui Meets Li Kui?

Xu Chengrui’s expression stiffened. His brow furrowed as he seriously sized up Elder Huang for a long moment before saying, "Fellow Daoist, are you serious?"

Elder Huang, his face cold, looked at Xu Chengrui and said, "Heh, weren’t you the one who asked me what I wanted? What, now that I’ve given you an answer, you’re not satisfied?"

Xu Chengrui’s expression faltered for a moment, and he took a deep breath. ’It’s been a long time since anyone showed me such disrespect, not since I achieved Enlightenment Dao. I feel like my Qi Cultivation Skill has even regressed a bit.’

After a moment’s pause, he finally said, "How about this? At the end of the day, this is all just about some treasures. What if I have my disciple compensate your disciple?"

Seeing that the other party had responded, Elder Huang’s expression softened slightly. He turned to look at Li Shifan, who was dutifully standing in the background, and asked, "What do you think?"

Li Shifan was taken aback and only realized after a moment that the question was for him. He immediately said, "This disciple will defer to Elder Huang’s judgment."

Seeing this, Elder Huang turned back to Xu Chengrui and said, "How do you intend to compensate him?"

Xu Chengrui turned his head, looked at Xu Baiqing, and said, "Your storage pouch."

Xu Baiqing’s face went pale. "Ancestor," he said.

His voice trembled, a hint of a sob in it.

Xu Chengrui’s gaze turned cold, and his voice grew heavier. "The storage pouch."

His face ashen, Xu Baiqing tremblingly removed the storage pouch from his waist and handed it to Xu Chengrui with a look of resignation.

Holding the storage pouch, Xu Chengrui asked, "Do you have the Daoist Collection with you?"

Xu Baiqing shook his head. "No."

Hearing this, Xu Chengrui took the storage pouch and gave it a light jolt.

"Ngh..."

Xu Baiqing’s brow twitched, and he let out a soft, muffled groan.

After breaking the Restriction, Xu Chengrui tossed the storage pouch toward Elder Huang. The pouch was wrapped in a strange fluctuation as it flew toward him.

It flew slowly, but Elder Huang could clearly feel that the storage pouch was imbued with a considerable amount of power.

’Still not reconciled, are we? Trying to test me?’

With a blank expression, Elder Huang flicked his sleeve. As his Daoist Robe billowed, a faint suction pulled the storage pouch directly into his sleeve.

’Is that... Sleeve Qiankun?!!’

Having thrown the pouch, Xu Chengrui had been watching Elder Huang intently. When he saw this, his expression stiffened, and much of the ugliness vanished from his face.

"Are you satisfied now, Fellow Daoist?" Xu Chengrui asked.

Elder Huang accepted the item and inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. ’Even though I have Mastery of Tier Three Sleeve Qiankun, I couldn’t be sure that a Fake Level version performed by my Incarnation would look completely convincing.’

’But it’s fine now that I’ve secured it.’ A current of water surged within his sleeve, catching the storage pouch. Without even taking it out to inspect it, he clasped his hands behind his back and said, "Very well. Let us consider the matter of today concluded!"

Seeing this, Xu Chengrui’s expression improved considerably. ’After all, it seems Elder Huang was only looking for a show of deference.’

Xu Chengrui studied Elder Huang carefully once more and said, "Since that’s the case, I won’t impose any longer. If you have time in the future, Fellow Daoist, you are welcome to visit our Quanzhen Grotto Heaven. I will personally roll out the red carpet for you."

Elder Huang glanced at Xu Chengrui. He didn’t give him a cold look this time, but he didn’t become friendly either. "There’s no need," he said flatly.

Xu Chengrui paused at his words, then said, "Then I shall take my leave."

With that, he turned, and with a wave of his hand, swept up his two companions and transformed into a streak of light, disappearing over the horizon.

Elder Huang watched quietly until they disappeared, then turned to Li Shifan. "Regarding today’s petition, since your new server has just opened and is still in its grace period, I will not deduct any Contribution points as is customary.

"As for which task you’ll use to make up for it, go find Zhang Wu to receive it after you return. He is in full charge of matters concerning the new server."

Upon hearing this, Li Shifan immediately nodded obediently. "This disciple understands."

Hearing this, Elder Huang waved his hand again. "Here. This is your compensation. Take it."

Li Shifan paused, hesitating. "Elder Huang, this..."

Elder Huang laughed. "You’re an interesting kid. Did you really think I insisted on that man’s compensation because I was after such a paltry sum?"

Li Shifan hesitated, but Li Cheng immediately replied, "Reporting to Elder Huang, we disciples understand. This boy of mine is too young and inexperienced, his horizons are still narrow. Please don’t laugh at him."

Elder Huang glanced at Li Cheng and shook his head again. "You, kid... I’ve met you three times now. We could be said to have some fate between us, and I’ve taken quite a liking to you. It’s a pity you’ve walked such a path.

"If you get the chance, you should look into the path of Soul Artifacts. See if you can’t switch back."

Li Cheng nodded with a bitter smile. He didn’t take this as an opportunity to curry favor by complaining about the difficulty of the Soul Artifact path or anything of the sort. Instead, he simply said, "This disciple understands."

Elder Huang gave Li Cheng another look, shook his head, and tossed the storage pouch to him. Then, his entire body disintegrated, transforming into a sky full of Spiritual Light before vanishing from Heaven and Earth.

Li Cheng caught the storage pouch. After Li Shifan came to his senses, he handed it to him and said, "If you don’t want your so-called compensation task to be impossibly difficult when you get back, don’t open this thing. Don’t even look at it. Just hand it directly to Zhang Wu.

"If you do that, I expect that Steward Zhang Wu will understand what it means."

Li Shifan paused at his words, then nodded. He stuffed the storage pouch into his pocket, not even bothering to transfer the things he was carrying on his back into it.

Li Cheng nodded. Just as he was about to disappear, he saw Li Shifan ask hesitantly, "Ancestor, isn’t Quanzhen Temple one of the Nine Great Blessed Land Grotto Heavens? The person who came today must be at least a Four Symbols Ancestor of a Grotto Heaven, right? So why..."

"Why was he so willing to swallow his pride? Is that what you want to ask?" Li Cheng finished for him.